


Kugutsue

by vampirekiki



Series: Kugutsue [1]
Category: Jrock, the GazettE
Genre: Horror, Irony, M/M, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 16:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3658053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampirekiki/pseuds/vampirekiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a horror story about a teddy bear, if you like Clive Barker’s novels you might also like this one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This series is non-betaed!

Kugutsue 0.1

On his five years old birthday, a teddy bear was given to little Ruki as a present, the said bear had soft blond fur covering its stuffed body, and a sliver color ribbon wrapped around its neck. Overjoyed for receiving such lovely gift, Ruki hugged the pretty teddy lovingly, refused to let go. Smiling at his childish behavior, his parents suggested their son to give the terry a name; they thought it was a nice idea for their son to name his companion.

For the few days afterward, little Ruki thought deeply, struggled to think of a suitable name for his pretty huggable Bear. There was a name at the tip of his tongue but he couldn't pronounce the syllable correctly. It took him a few more days before he could eventually tell his parents what name he had decided for his Bear.

"Reita" He said.

As the boy spoke this name for the first time so proudly and lovingly to the Bear, for a second there was a sparkling flash appeared in those black plastic eyes, but maybe it was just light playing trick to the eyes. The little boy couldn't be certain.

The teddy bear named Reita remained to be Ruki's favorite toy and companion for years to come. The boy spent his time playing with the teddy after he had finished his schoolwork, telling the bear how he (yes, in Ruki's mind Reita was a boy bear!) was dear to him, taking the bear to bed every night, hugging it close to himself as he slept. He even readjusted Reita's ribbon to wrap around the middle of his face like it was a nose strap, thinking it gave his beloved bear a cooler look.

But like all childhoods, Ruki's childhood had come to an end one day. It happened when his parents decided that their son was to leave the comfort of their home and go studying in a boarding school. The decision was made when the boy was nine years old, Ruki had wanted to take Reita with him but his mother ordered him to put the teddy bear into a box and left it behind, saying that he was a big boy now, too old to be still playing with silly toy such as a teddy bear!

So Ruki left home and went to study in the new environment of the boarding school, in the first few weeks he had missed his Reita but soon enough schoolwork, new activities and new friends had taken up all of Ruki's attention and it didn't take too long for the boy to forget his once beloved toy.

***

Years passed by, Ruki graduated from high school, but before he went to university Ruki decided to spend his summer holiday in his home town with his parents.

After a simple dinner with his aged parents, Ruki went upstairs to his old bedroom, dropping his bag he threw himself to his bed, looking sleepily up to the familiar surrounding of his room.

Then his sight focused on a dusty box at the far corner of the room, he thought he had seen this box before but couldn't recall when. Out of curiosity he moved to pack up the box, lightening the lid to see what is inside. Lying at the bottom of the box was a faded teddy bear with a sliver strap wrapped around the middle of its face.

Confused, Ruki took the bear out and studied it, trying to recall what it was, but the memory of his childhood had long faded away, now he couldn't recall the bear's name, nor did this old companion mean much to him now. So after a long look at the old teddy bear, Ruki simply put it inside the box, back into its old corner.

To be continued.


	2. Kugutsue 02

0.2

Ruki woke up as usual in the next morning; he went to the bathroom for wash and change before going downstairs to eat breakfast with his parents. Afterward he went back to his room to pack up his wallet before he could go out, he soon found what he was looking for but when he was about to leave, he caught sight of something strange at the corner of his bedroom

It was the cardboard box he had found last night, but right now the box had been overturned, the lid lying next to it, and with the box now opened, Ruki could see the teddy bear's face, the empty eyes staring up to meet his own gaze as he bent down to gaze at the fallen toy.

Puzzled, the youth kneeled down to pack up the box, putting the teddy bear back inside, but before he could close the lid, Ruki hissed as the tip of his finger was pierced by something sharp and pointy. He quickly withdrew his hand, staring down he found his index finger bleeding. Cursing to himself he found some tissue to wipe the blood away, then he looked down at the box and the teddy bear in it angrily. The bear with a strap around its fury face stared back at him in a seemingly innocent way; but Ruki could swear he caught sight of a tiny sharp object gleaming near the bear's hand, probably a needle.

Furiously Ruki closed the lid and packed the cardboard box up, hurried downstairs till he reached the small storeroom next to the kitchen. He unlocked the door and put the cardboard box on top of the nearest shelf. After giving the box one hard look, Ruki turned away and shut the door with a loud bang.

That night Ruki's sleep was disturbed by a strange, chilly dream. In his dream it was all dark, and he was alone in his parents' house, but at the same time it wasn't the same warm friendly house which he had spent nearly his entire childhood in. instead everything inside the household had somehow became darker, gloomier, more frightening and strange. He walked from room to room looking for his parents but no one was there, everywhere he turned he saw shadows dancing and twisting at every single dark corner of the house even though no one else was there and everything had been so maddeningly quiet and still.

A chill shook down Ruki's spine when he realized what was so wrong, it was he himself, that somehow without his noticing he had became so small comparing to everything around him, the same like what had happened to Alice after she drank the liquid in the bottle. As the realization dawning upon him, the ominous shadows were growing bigger and bigger, and they had also begun to close in around him, the next second he was cornered; his back hit the wall and desperately Ruki scanning his surrounding, hoping to find a route of escape but there was none. The shadows was approaching still, and then a darken arm reached out to grip him, Ruki cried out as he recognized the short hand of a toy bear, and a massive, fixed plastic dark eye closing in on him, gleaming in the dark.

Ruki woke up with a start, with cold sweat seeping down his back. His eyes widely opened as he gazed into the darkness around him. Luckily he found himself still alone in his old bedroom, everything around him was peacefully quiet and there was no suspicious shadows lurking in his room.

With a smile of relief, Ruki sank back to the pillow, but as he turned his head to a side an object blocked his way. Even though he couldn't see the said object clearly in the dark still Ruki thought he knew what was there at his bed.

Moments later, the moon showed her face through the veiling clouds, Ruki's bedroom was bathed within the rays of soft pale light, leaving Ruki to stare in horror at a teddy bear, lying among the mattress next to him, its plastic eyes reflecting Ruki's shocked expression, its fixed line of a mouth seemed to be graced with a mischievous grin.


	3. Kugutsue 03

0.3

Not waiting till daybreak, Ruki gripped the ominous teddy bear and ran downstairs, he reached for the backdoor and threw the bear out to the rubbish bin outside of the house, then retreated before locking the door behind him.

He stared up at the stairs toward the upper floor, but didn't feel like going back to his bedroom to sleep any longer. Instead he switched on the light and sat alone in the living room, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Maybe he had been overreacting all along; maybe the incident with the teddy bear was someone playing a trick on him. But who could this be? His parents were out of the question immediately. He had been away from his hometown for years, not many people had known of his return. He thought of all of his old friends and neighbors, but none of them would do such meaningless thing to him. Beside who would know of the existence of this damn teddy bear? He had long forgotten it before he opened the dusty box that day

The next morning, Ruki's mother found her son fast asleep on the couch and she had to wake him up. The youth never told his parents what had happened in the previous night. So when later that day his unsuspicious mother asked him to dispose some rubbish outside of the house, Ruki didn't think twice before he took the plastic bag filled with rubbish, he once again opened the backdoor while humming to himself, walking toward the rubbish bin, then he opened the lid. Ah! The bin was empty, nothing had remained inside. The dustman must have removed the bear along with the other garbage alreadyRuki was surprised how much the thought could make him feel relief. He put the bag into the bin, then went back to the house and thought nothing further of the teddy bear.

***

At dusk Ruki's father was readying to take his wife and child to one of their relatives' home for a gathering dinner. But before they went they had decided to stop by at a toy shop in order to buy some toys for Ruki's younger cousins. The youth walked into the shop with his parents but all together he was not so interested in packing up toys anyway, so he left the task to his parents, for they were so fond of their nephews.  
Ruki wandered off to the far corner of the shop, the further he went the more he began to notice there was a piece of elegant melody playing, it sounded quite like a nursery rhythm; probably there was a music box playing in somewhere near. Ruki followed the music out of curiosity, until the music led him in front of a closed red velvet curtain, with a smile on his face; Ruki pushed open the curtain to see what had been hidden behind.

What he saw was a blond color teddy bear, with a sliver strap around its face, sitting on top of a small black wooden round table, with an opened music box placed on its laps. The teddy bear had a kind, smiling expression on its face, but the moment Ruki saw it a chill had shook down his spine, for this teddy bear looked so much alike the one he had just disposed of in the previous night

The youth took a step backward before he noticed his own action, his hold on the curtain loosed and it fell right back to its place, at the same moment the nursery rhythm had also came to an abrupt end, as if someone had shut the music box suddenly, saved for the fact that no one else was there

If Ruki had been calmer, he would have tried to convince himself that he was in fact inside a toy shop, and teddy bear with the same feature of the one he had found in his parents' home, should be quite common to see among toys, it should be the case, were there millions of similar-looking teddy bear toy out there among every single toy shop? but right now Ruki couldn't calm down, the reappearance of this blond fur bear freaked him out more than he could handle. Letting out a gasp of shock, the youth turned away and ran.

He had left too soon that he never heard the sad eerie small voice echoing in the empty corner of the toy shop, barely audible.

Ruki....

to be continued.


	4. Kugutsue 04

0.4

In that evening, Ruki and his parents had a good time with their relatives, they chatted, having dinner cheerfully all the whileeveryone was having funperhaps saved for Ruki. The incident in the toy shop had uneven him, he was so confused. What had he done to deserve such strange, unreasonable happening?

In the middle of the gathering party, his two little cousins, Aoi and Kai came up to Ruki, demanding him in a childish manner that he should take them both out for a traveling funfair on a beach nearby.

Ruki smiled, this time it was a true smile instead of the half-hearted ones he had given to everyone in order to avoid catching people's attention or worrying about him. The youth promised the two little kids he would take them to the fair, and after asking their parents' permission, the three of them soon left the house and headed for the funfair by the sea.

***

There was still very crowded in the fun fair even though when night deepened, the children were overjoyed at the sight of the display of various thrill rides, game and sideshows, they couldn't wait to try out the attractions one by one, for quite a few Ruki had to chase behind them before they got themselves lost in such a crowded place.

Finally Ruki guarded Aoi and Kai to two of the wooden horse-seats on a carousel before retreating, he waved cheerfully at the excited children as the carousel started to gallop; at the same he also let out a sign of relief, till the ride came to an end, he would have about two or three minutes of rest before he had to take his cousins home.

He found a bunch near the carousel and sat there, watching people passed by in front of him, suddenly he heard excited shouting and laughing from the other direction so he turned to see what was going on. Then he saw something unexpected.

Right Outside of a black and red sideshow tent, a blond fur teddy bear stood as tall as an adult-man, its short round hand holding various balloons held together by long thin tapes. Ruki had seen a few staff dressing in animal-customs and mask in order to entertain fair-goers, but there was something different about this Bear. Instead of looking like a man wearing an animal-custom and mask, this giant bear appeared to be a perfectly aggrandized version of common teddy bear toy; it looked like a teddy bear in every respect, if it really was just a custom, then what an ingenious custom it would be!

But somehow Ruki sensed that it wasn't the case, it was not a guy dressing in customs for customers' amazement, it was the Bear, the Bear which constantly turned up wherever he went, refusing to leave him alone.

The Bear and the balloons it held in its hand had amused the children, they were gathering around the tall chubby, lovable figure of this big teddy, jumping around, demanding balloons, some of them even hugged the Bear's torso happily. The giant Bear had half-turned away from Ruki, making it difficult to see its face.

However, Ruki felt the air around him had suddenly frozen as he recognized the now-familiar chubby, light-yellow formin the next second the Bear turned itself around toward Ruki's direction, allowing the youth to take a good look of its face. It was real! Once again Ruki found himself staring back into the pair of fixed plastic round-eyes; he also recognized the sliver strap that covered the front of its face, and the always-smiling face that was the creepy Bear which he had thrown away.

Ruki blinked, and then blinked again in disbelief, it just couldn't be! the bear appeared in his parents' home was just a small child's toy, but right now standing opposite of him was a large bear as big and tall as a grown-man, how could a silly toy bear transformed into so massive of a size? Ruki had no idea but deep down his heart he knew there was no mistake, it was the Bear!

At that moment Ruki wanted very much to throw up, then he turned his face away from the bear's gaze, furiously searching for the sight of his two younger cousins, ready to grip them and run away from the fair for good.

He looked back at the carousel but only found that the ride had long came to a stop, no one was there, he quickly looked around his surrounding before he finally caught sight of his two cousins hand in hand together, running cheerfully toward the big smiling blond bear.

"Kai! Aoi! Don't go there!" he shouted as loudly as he could, but his voice was drowned out by the various noises in the funfair, no one could hear him. the youth began to shoulder pass various fair-goers, struggle to reach the two children, but the two small figures soon disappeared into the crowd, and the crowd of fair-goers was blocking his way. Before Ruki could go to where the Bear stood, the blond fur Bear had already given out all of the colorful balloons, and the children were slowly retreating after getting what they wanted. Still Aoi and Kai was nowhere to be found. Ruki gazed back at the Bear again and found it having its back toward him. But much to his shock, the giant Bear seemed to have two small children in its arms, taking them away from the crowd. Ruki swore he could see one of the children had a short of brown hair and the other one's was raven black in color, and he had also recognized the jacket Kai had been wearing

He had taken Aoi and Kai! Ruki was so stunned that he couldn't even cry for help. He watched as the Bear walking steadily away from the fairground, together with the two children in its arms. He would have to stop him! Someone was hiding beneath this damn teddy-bear custom and took his cousins away, there should be no other explanation. He had taken them both!

Slowly the Bear was walking further and further away, disappearing under the cover of the night, there was no time to waste, Ruki ran toward the same direction to where the Bear had disappeared to, hoping to catch up with it before it was too late.

to be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fun fair scene in this chapter is inspired the expressionism thriller "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari  and Mirror Mask.  
> Sorry, I REALLY thought that I can put an end of the story in this chapter, but last night I lost sleep and the funfair scene came to my mind! So more chapters to go!


	5. Kugutsue 05

0.5

Ruki ran after the ominous Bear, the further he ran the further away he was from the crowd, from the sound of sea waves he could hear he knew that he was going near the beach side. The Bear was walking on a seemingly slow speed but for some unknown reason Ruki just couldn't catch up with it.

Right now the Bear was making its way to the top of a small hill and Ruki was still far behind, when the Bear reached the top, it paused, turning back to face Ruki. The youth gasped in shock to see the Bear stood there as if it was waiting for him, but his attention was quickly caught with the two small figures hanging motionlessly on the Bear's chubby arms, with their heads bending low. For an instant he considered calling the police but he feared that once they got there it would already been too late.

Ruki gasped at what he saw, AoiKaiwere they still alive? Hot tear welled up from his sockets and Ruki was left dumbfounded staring at the giant size teddy bear in silence. Then within a blink of an eye the Bear had suddenly vanished.

Once the Bear and the two children went out of his sight, the spell was finally broken, and Ruki was able to move again. Swallowing back tears, the youth chased after the mysterious Bear into the unknown world of darkness.

***

Both having a balloon in their hands, Kai and Aoi went back to look for their older cousin Ruki, but the blonde haired youth was nowhere to be found. Fair-goers walking passed them but so far no one had paid them much attention. The fairground was as crowded and cheerful as always.

The two brothers stood before the empty bunch where they had last seen Ruki sitting on, staring at each other with widened eyes, puzzled. Where did Ruki ni-chan go?

"Where's he?" Little Aoi asked in a worry tone, he turned again in a vain hope to find Ruki, as he did so his grip on the tape loose and the yellow balloon floated straight up to the night sky.

***

Ruki hurried down the small hill, there was a path before him leading toward the woodland, but the youth had lost sight of the Bear and his two cousins.

The lonely path lead toward a seemingly abandoned cottage, he could see from a distance that the door was unlocked, opening and closing very slowly despite the lack of wind.

Ruki scanned the surrounding away but under the bright moon he could not find the Bear, not in the grassland nor the wood behind the house. Clenching his teeth, he ran toward the abandoned house.

Finally he was standing in front of the darkened abandoned cottage, the worn wooden door at the front was half-opened, revealing the gloominess within, taking a deep breath, Ruki stepped in.

Once inside, the moonlight through the broken windows became the only source of light, even with moonlight reaching into the room it was still very dark and frightening. Trembling slightly, Ruki carefully scanned his surrounding, looking for his two cousins. But there were nowhere in sight, nor did the giant Bear with the strap on his face.

Then he heard laughter, Ruki nearly jumped. There was childish laugher echoing in the dark from somewhere inside the house, from a distance it sounded like Kai and Aoi were laughing. But why would the children laugh? Were they still not aware of the danger they were in?

He turned and turned searching for the direction of where the sounds came from, then he found a half-worn staircase leading toward the upper floor, the childish laughter could be heard again, were they being held captive on the upper floor?

Slowly, Ruki made his way up to the second floor, much to his surprise he found yellowish light poured out from one of the rooms at the far end of the short corridor. As if someone was waiting for him to arrive.

It might be a trap, the alarm in his mind was ringing loudly, but it was too late, Ruki had already gone that far to save his two cousins. He looked around for a while before he noticed there was a broken wooden strip lying at the corner of the staircase, and it looked sharp enough. Immediately Ruki gripped the strip before he stepped into the corridor.

It took not more than 20 seconds for him to reach the room with light pouring out from behind its half-closed door, but for Ruki it felt like an eternity. His nervously looked around half-expecting for the hideous Bear or some other monsters to jump out in every second but it never happened. Soon he was right in front of the room in question, Ruki carefully peered inside, almost immediately he caught sight of a small lamp sat on the ground at the far corner, at the opposite side two small figures sat side by side on a broken bench, silence. No one else was there in the small room.

Relief to find his cousins seemingly unharmed, Ruki rushed forward, hoping to check whether the children were still conscious or not. He called out their names but there was no response. The moment the youth's hands touched upon Kai's form the child suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground with a loud bang, his head separated from the neck and rolling off the corner.

Ruki's eyes widened in horror, staring at the broken, headless body near his feet, with the help of the weak lamplight soon he realized it wasn't a living child to begin with, just a dirty boy-doll that looked a bit similar to Kai, wearing a clothes that was the same color with Kai's jacket.

A shiver shook down his entire body and Ruki couldn't stop himself from losing his balance and fell to the ground. It took a long moment before he could move the muscles of his body again and with great difficulty he turned his head and stared at the figure on the bench whom he had thought to be 'Aoi'.

This time he discovered that it was just another life-size doll wearing some dirty clothes and with a black wig on.

It really was a trap! How could he be fooled so easily?

There was only silence left inside the small room, Ruki could only stared at the black-haired doll, dumbfounded and defeated. One single thought in his mind: he had to escape from this cursed place.

But before he could stood up and ran all the way downstairs, the lamplight suddenly writhed for a few seconds before it snuffed out, darkness befell immediately.

Ruki's gasp of surprise was quickly drowned out as the doll sitting on the bench suddenly began to wigged on its own, in the dim moonlight Ruki gazed at the doll in utterly shock as its mouth fell open, and a beads of harsh laughter, clearly coming from a sound-record device within the doll's throat, rang through the room, louder and louder

This time Ruki screamed.

to be continued


	6. Kugutsue 06

0.6

Ruki's panic scream echoed off the room, then he smashed the chattering black haired doll with the wooden strip he was still holding, rising up the strip then blow it down onto the doll repeatedly until the doll laid there in an utter ruin. Eventually the hideous laughter had finally stopped; silence once again hovered down the entire room.

He felt drained out of all the shock and anxiety; tiredly he dropped the trip and tumbled out of the room. Ruki felt like as if he was walking in the nightmarish world of shades and twisted twilight created by his own mind. He needed to get out of here

Before he could reach to the staircase, the youth's eyes had captured suspicious movements and unsteady shifting of shadows which cased all of his movement to come to an end, he frozen at his spot, staring down at moving shades making its way upstairs in horror.

There wasn't any footstep to start with, but the creepy strange creak of something heavy and huge being dragged up the old worn stairs as the wooden stairs broken and snapped under the weight, the sound sent an immediate thrill down the youth's spine. What kind of thing was coming toward him now?

With nothing left to defend himself, Ruki slowly retreated back to the end of the corridor, until his back hit the wall, but the creaking sound was only getting louder and louder ringing in the youth's ears, and the moving shades still kept on climbing up, and finally

There was a teddy bear appeared at the top of the stairs, the silver strap still wrapped around its nose, its mouth curled upward for a smile, doubtlessly it was the same Bear he had kept seeing everywhere he went after he went back to his hometown. But what was truly horrifying about this Bear was its monstrous huge size. It had grown even far larger than the youth had seen it to be in the funfair. Its yellow fury body stuffed every space within the narrow staircase and even that didn't seem to be enough for the Bear, for its body was pushing against the four walls, slowly but steadily stretching them to the point of breaking.

Now Ruki knew why the stairs creaked so loud, for every step the Bear had taken to drag its massive fury body forward,every rusty nails in the wood were coming off from their places; and the wooden stairs and the flooring beneath it snapped and gave in, crumbling and fell down to the ground floor. The abandoned worn house was being slowly crushed into pieces as the Bear marched on, coming toward Ruki with its huge kind smile still on the fury soft face.

Eventually Ruki's legs gave in and he stumbled on the floor, unable to look away from the sight of terror right in front of him, the Bear didn't pause as it itched its way toward its former owner. His Ruki.

The blonde haired youth felt his body became so numb out of extreme dread, he could only watched helplessly as more wood flooring crushed under the Bear gigantic weight, the noise of the wood breaking and crumbling down all around him had became overwhelming, dust and broken wooden pieces drifted down on him like rain.

Ruki curled to himself as tightly as he could but deep down in his heart he knew it wasn't going to save him. he could only stared in sheer horror as the Bear reached out a chubby short hand to claim him, there was nowhere he could escape it. Everything looked exactly like what he had seen in his nightmare.

"No!" Ruki cried out but it was too late.

The Bear's huge plastic eyes looked so round, so innocent, peering down at him. Ruki stared at those plastic pupils helplessly and saw his own reflection, so small and pitiful in those pools of blackness. It was the last thing he had ever seen.


	7. Kugutsue 00

0.0

Ruki's disappearance captured police's attention immediately right after his younger cousins were found being left alone to the fairground, both children were unharmed but when being questioned of their older cousin where about, they started to cry and shook their heads repeatedly at the adults, both of them unable to offer any useful clue.

Then in the next morning, people found Ruki wandering around in a wasteland near the shore. The youth was quickly sent to hospital for testing and treatment, but it was too late, by then he was no longer the person he used to be anymore.

On the physical level Ruki was unharmed, saved for minor injuries such as the small cuts on his limbs; but on the mental side the youth was suffering with disastrous disorder. He was not able to answer any question the police had asked him with, he no longer could react normally to the outside world. The youth's parents and relatives were all utterly shocked and confused, no one could figure out what had happened to Ruki that could damage him so completely.

The youth was soon being tested by psychiatrists, and the experts found that Ruki's mental age and ability had withdrawn into the childish age of five or six years old, even his memory had suffered damage to a point that his memory about previous period of time had all been lost. The psychiatrists could find little to none explanation to the youth's condition, nor could they be able to explain to Ruki's angst parents why their good teenage son would be reduced into such miserable state. The best explanation they could come up with was that Ruki had suffered some extremely traumatic experience during the night of his disappearance, but since the youth was unable to talk or explain himself in anyway coherently, they concluded that the reason of the sudden withdraw of his mental state would probably remain a mystery.

After shedding much bitter tear at their unbearable loss, Ruki's parents had no other choice left but to hospitalize their child. Therefore, Ruki, a teenager who had once had such promising future awaiting him, was left behind alone in the twisted little world of his confused mind, being isolated within the four white walls of his lonely ward.

****

Day in and day out, nights fell and then night faded away, time passed slowly in the sanatorium where had been Ruki's new home for quite some time already. But time meant little to the youth now, for he was happy with himself being alone in his own little world, and he wasn't interested in the busy, noisy world outside of his residing ward. Day after day the youth busy himself with drawing, reading books, playing with the toys presented to him by those good doctors, as long as he behaved, took his medicines on time and caused no one trouble, the nurses would be nice to him and gave him candies. He was happy and there was nothing else he would want. Though he did wish for his parents to come and visit him more frequently, and when they did come, Ruki would love to see them smiling down at him instead of showing him the sad disappointed look they had been giving him from time to time��he couldn't understand their expression, nor could he remember what had he done to upset his dear parents so greatly�.

But Ruki shrugged the thought off quickly, no need to worry about it, his parents loved him, right?

Today Ruki brought out all of his toys and lined them up one by one on the floor, he gazed hard at every single one of them for a long time, something was bothering him but he couldn't tell what was wrong�it was a strange feeling, like something important to him was missing but he couldn't recall what it was��one after an other Ruki held those stuff animals with his arms, but none of them felt right��

Disappointed, Ruki sighed deeply and rolled himself to lay on the carpeted floor, with his eyes closed, he fell into a dreamless slumber.

When he woke up again the day had long came to an end, gloomy night sky hovered outside of the small window he couldn't reach, cold moonlight pooled quietly all around him. Ruki blinked for a few time before he sat himself up on the floor, ripping his tired eyes softly, when his eyes became focused again he caught sight of a small form not far away from him, sitting nicely on the floor.

It was a small teddy bear, with large round black plastic for a pair of eyes, a pretty sliver strap wrapped around the front of its round face, its smile a charming curl line. Though the yellow color of its fur seemed to be faded considerably but it was as lovely as the first time Ruki had ever set eyes on it.

Immediately Ruki recognized the cute bear, there was it! The one dear thing he had been missing for so long! With a cry of joy he jumped up to grip the toy eagerly and hugged it tightly in his arms, like meeting with an old friend whom he hadn't seen for a very, very long time.

"Reita, you are back!" Ruki exclaimed with a smile of pure happiness gracing his face, he cradled the soft chubby form of the bear lovingly in his arms, whispering to it. "What had taken you so long?"

The teddy bear made no answer�how could it possibly make any kind of response when it was merely a toy? But if you looked closely enough you would notice a mysterious sparkle seemed to flash within those dark plastic eyes.

As Ruki yearned out of tiredness, taking the bear with him to his narrow bed, the good old teddy bear remained smiling cheerfully all the while, as silently as always.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending kind of reminds me of Clive Barker's short story Dread...oh Reita! What a tricky evil teddy bear you really are! Halloween is around the corner now! Someone should present me with a Reita-bear ne!


End file.
